CHAPTER 4

GROUP DATE

Brandon

I wanted to kill Livy and Staci.

Not that they had actually done anything wrong, but David was completely wrong for Charlie. I had barely even spoken to her and even I knew that.

I was sitting across the table from her as she sat awkwardly next to him, and I was one hundred percent sure that this wasn’t going to happen.

First of all, he was wearing a damn shirt that had more wrinkles than a ninety-year-old man’s ball sack. If he couldn’t put in more effort than that for their first-time meeting, then he definitely didn’t deserve her.

And I didn’t have the highest standards.

But all you had to do was take one look at Charlie, just one damn glance, to see how much thought she had put into tonight. She had on the sweetest green dress that hung all the way to the floor and made her green eyes shine even in the dim lights of the restaurant. Her wild red curls had been tamed into a perfectly put together bun that somehow drew extra attention to the smattering of freckles that covered her shoulders. I wanted nothing more than to put my hands in her hair and set her curls free. She looked like a different person without them falling in her face. She looked fucking hot, but…

What the hell was I thinking?

I was not attracted to women like Charlie.

She was far too good, and Lord knows she was too innocent. But something about her made me want to make her blush. She blushed almost anytime I was around her, and there was something so damn sexy about seeing her pale skin match the shade of her hair.

And I couldn’t imagine David doing that to her. I didn’t want to imagine him doing anything to her. The thought actually pissed me off.

Charlie looked bored as he talked her ear off. I hadn’t seen her open her mouth other than to give him small reactions to what he was saying. He didn’t ask her anything about herself. He didn’t want to know about her crazy ass mama who had me laughing like crazy that same morning. He didn’t seem to want to know what made her happy or sad or laugh uncontrollably.

But I did.

“Charlie, you should have brought your mama with you. She’s awesome.”

She turned her pretty green eyes toward me even though David was still going on and on about something.

Her full pink lips curved up in a small smile. “Don’t encourage her. She has a big enough head as it is.”

“She seemed to have her head on pretty straight. She did say I was handsome.” I grinned at her and out of the corner of my eye I saw that David finally realized she was no longer paying attention to him.

“That’s subjective.” Charlie shrugged her shoulders, but there was no chance in hell that I would have missed the way she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing.

“Are you telling me that you don’t think I’m handsome?” I put my hand over my chest in shock.

“I didn’t say that.” She took a sip of her drink and looked back toward David. It pissed me off that she even cared that he was still there, but I knew it was completely irrational. It didn’t matter if she was worried about David sitting beside her, and it shouldn’t have made me giddy that her gaze slid right back to mine even though he was.

“So, you do?”

“I didn’t say that either.” She toyed with the thin napkin that rested under her glass, and I realized that her hands were always busy doing something when she was talking to me.

“I’m going to have to work to get it out of you, aren’t I? It’s alright. I’m up for a challenge.”

She blushed, the light redness spreading from her face all the way down her chest.

“Brandon, how’s Alicia?”

I pulled my gaze away from Charlie long enough to look over at David, and man, did he look pissed.

“Who?” I asked him before taking a drink of my beer.

“Alicia,” he said the name again, slower this time as if I was dumb. “The girl you were with the other night at the bar.”

Charlie had been watching the two of us, but I watched her force her attention elsewhere at his words.

“She’s fine I assume. I don’t really know her.” I narrowed my eyes at him and the game he was playing.

“Damn.” He chuckled. “She seemed to know you pretty well.” He put his arm around the back of Charlie’s chair, and if Livy’s voice didn’t stop me, I swear I would have knocked that damn smirk off his face as I knocked him out of his chair.

“I’m glad Alicia isn’t around. She’s not good enough for you, Brandon.”

I winked at her. Livy was the kind of friend you always wanted around. She may not always agree with every decision I made, but she would fight to the death to defend me. As I would do her. I couldn’t have asked for a better wife for my best friend.

Except for the fact that she decided to set up this horrible night. She came into this on Team David regardless if she knew I was interested in Charlie or not. Hell, I didn’t even know if I was interested.

“Charlie, did you know that Brandon has this dog named Jughead that he rescued from the animal shelter?”

And just like that, Livy was back on Team Brandon.

“Really?” Charlie’s eyes lit up a bit. “You like Riverdale?”

“He was already named when I got him. He’s a few years old.”

“Oh.” She looked away as if what she said was stupid.

“But Livy has forced me to watch it, and I will say that I don’t hate it.”

She smiled up at me before looking away again.

“Don’t let him lie. He freaking loves it. He’s over at the house like thirty minutes early before every episode and he brings snacks.”

“That’s because Livy gets super hangry,” I fake whispered behind my hands to Charlie.

“You should come next week, but I’ll warn you that you should probably bring some treats. She treats me like the red-headed stepchild if I don’t bring snacks. I can’t imagine how she’ll treat you since you’re a baker.”

Charlie laughed softly. “That sounds awesome.”

I watched David squirm next to her.

“Charlie, I’m off next Saturday if you’d like to do something.” He said the words only for her, but I could feel something, anger, panic, maybe both, fill me. The thought of Charlie dating him or being alone with him or who only knew what with him pissed me off.

“We’re all planning on going to play laser tag on Saturday. You all should join.”

“We are?” Parker spoke up for the first time, and I prayed that he would just turn back to his conversation with Mason so he didn’t ruin this for me.

“Yeah. I forgot to tell you,” Livy quickly said as she laid her hand on Parker’s shoulder. “I told Brandon that I was one hundred percent sure that I could kick his ass at laser tag. He says I can’t. You know I don’t back down from a challenge. You all should definitely come. It’s going to be awesome.”

If everyone else wasn’t still around us, I would have fist bumped the hell out of Livy.

“That sounds fun.” Charlie looked over at David. “Does that work for you?”

David had his arms crossed over his chest, and I was willing to bet that he was seconds away from banging on his chest and chanting mine. But he was too big of a pussy.

“Yea. I’m a laser tag champion.”

I rolled my eyes, and Livy kicked me under the table.

“I hate to tell you this David, but you are all going down.” Livy ran her finger against her throat and gave us all her best death stare. Damn, I had the best wing woman ever.